I guess the secret of running an Empire successfully, from the Sumerians down to the Americans, has been to convince your own people that they are exceptional and superior, and convince the people of the subject nations of the same thing. Mind you, at some point, sooner or later, everyone realises that the Emperor is kind of naked, and then the whole house of cards collapses.

In every society there are always people who happily vote for, and cheer on, the people who run the guillotines, believing, incorrectly, that they will always keep their own heads while all about them are losing theirs.

Just as Maggie Thatcher’s friendship with Pinochet was the final touch on the portrait of her black soul, so is Theresa May’s deal with the Northern Ireland Unionists. In both cases, any lingering doubt there might have been as to their characters is instantly removed. In Donald Trump’s case there has been no doubt about his character from the very first day of his grab for the Presidency.

In the British elections Theresa May found that the old saying “you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time” is true. On the other hand, in America, Donald Trump has found that it is not.

The Iranian election is a contest between the Hard Right and the Harder Righter. So were the French and American elections. So indeed are almost all elections everywhere these days. The only exception is Britain. And there Corbyn, for the sin of not being Hard Right, is punished by the media and will be smashed at the ballot box ( 13/6/2017 false prediction left in to show that even I can make a mistake…).